Two from Reading's Shane Long helps land winning odds at Cardiff City

Shane Long, second right, celebrates after he scores his and Reading's second moments before half-time. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA

No all-Welsh play-off final then, Reading instead going to Wembley on 30 May to take on Swansea, emboldened by a handsome win on a night when Cardiff never looked like Premier League candidates.

Dave Jones, the Cardiff manager, has spent the whole season insisting they are not a one-man team, but without the injured Craig Bellamy they were as mediocre as they were in losing the last home game of the regular season, against Middlesbrough and by the same humiliating score.

Cardiff have now missed out on promotion after being well-placed in each of the past three seasons, and after six years in charge there is an increasing belief among the fans that Jones is not the man to take them any further. He has been linked with the West Ham vacancy, but any interest from them is unlikely to survive this debacle. Afterwards he said he felt "lower than a snake's belly".

He admitted that whether he stays on is open to question, adding: "That's up to the owners here, but my CV shows that I bounce back. Now I have to take stock of my career. It might not be a decision by the owners, it might be mine. They might say 'yes' and I say 'no', but the fire is still burning because I love what I do. At the moment I feel like killing someone to vent my frustration and you have to give me time to get over my disappointment and my anger."

Reading were deserved winners, but they will be underdogs in the final. By common consent, Swansea are the best footballing side in the division, an impression reinforced in Tuesday's first half against Nottingham Forest, and their pacy, productive forwards will be much more of a test than Michael Chopra and Jay Bothroyd were . They are also unlikely to give away a goal as daft as the all-important first conceded by Cardiff after 28 minutes.

Cardiff had made the early running, as might have been expected from the home side, threatening after 17 minutes when there was a sharp intake of breath from 20,000 fans as Bellamy's stand-in, Chopra, shaped to shoot only to be thwarted by a sliding, last-ditch intervention from Matt Mills, the Reading captain.

It was also against the run of play that Reading took the lead with what for Cardiff was a self-inflicted wound. Dekel Keinan's back pass hit his centre-back partner, Kevin McNaughton, on the head and Shane Long's presence lured Stephen Bywater out of his area to attempt to clear the danger. Instead, with McNaughton chasing back to help, the goalkeeper thrashed a maladroit clearance into the oncoming forward who reacted like a natural striker, controlling the ball and chipping it into the unguarded net. Long had initially made contact with a hand, but at such close range that there could be no question of any infringement.

Cardiff had a second, more-convincing claim for a penalty after 36 minutes, when Seyi Olofinjana was pushed in the back by Andy Griffin as he challenged at the far post for Chris Burke's cross. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas then headed against Adam Federici's right-hand post but after 45 minutes bad became worse for the Welsh club when Keinan pulled down Mills at a corner and Long made short work of the most obvious of penalties. At 2-0 Reading were firmly in control, their fans already singing of Wembley.

Cardiff should have had a goal back in the 50th minute but Emmanuel-Thomas blazed wide, left to right, from close range. The young man they call "Jet", on loan from Arsenal, has been a disappointment, certainly in terms of goals scored, with two in 15 Championship appearances.

Ten minutes into the second half Jobi McAnuff, a former Cardiff player, shot against Bywater's left-hand post then Emmanuel-Thomas spurned another inviting chance. It was his last contribution. Jones hooked him immediately, sending on Jason Koumas in his place. Jones also withdrew Chopra, who had been poor, and introduced Jon Parkin, his man-mountain of a centre forward.

Parkin at least put himself about, flashing a diving header past a post, but Noel Hunt should have had a third for Reading in the 80th minute as the home fans began melting away, disappointed yet again. After 83 minutes McAnuff ran through the Cardiff defence and smacked in the third as the trickle towards the exits became a stream. Jones to join them? Time will tell.